PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The sun is out. The water is falling. Traffic is starting to flow again. While things appear to be looking up in Rhode Island, the state hit hardest this week by three days of rain and record flooding, health and environmental officials warn there’s still danger below the surface.

Raw sewage, garbage and oil are swirling around in the muddy floodwaters, creating a threat to people as they make their way toward and then down New England’s rivers and streams. In Rhode Island, the pollution stands to interrupt swimming and the important shellfishing industry in Narragansett Bay, the ocean inlet whose nooks and crannies give the tiny state more than 400 miles of coastline.

“The impact on this infrastructure is unprecedented,” said Curt Spalding, administrator of the New England region of the Environmental Protection Agency. “It’s a very rare occurrence when wastewater plants are completely disabled by flood, literally taken out and become inoperable. This is a very serious matter.”

The flooding has forced hundreds of people from their homes and businesses, and Gov. Don Carcieri said Thursday that damage could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars. But there are bright spots: A stretch of Interstate 95, a major East Coast link, reopened to traffic. State offices reopened, and public colleges and universities were set to do the same today.

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